Fountain of Youth
by Vampira Maxwell
Summary: Bruce turns 40 and is going through the whole 'I'm getting old' thing. He finds out about a scientist's new machine that can reduce age and he wants to be the first to try it. Bruce/Dick


Fountain of Youth  
By: Lady Amalthea  
  
Fandom: Batman  
Romance/drama/comedy/alternate universe  
No sex  
Homosexuality  
Pairings: Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson  
Spoilers: None  
Parts: 1/1  
Rating: PG-13  
Archive: No  
Feedback: Only if you want to give it.  
Story blurb: A scientist that has been trying to get herself noticed for years, finally does so, with a machine that is designed to make people younger. It's never been tested and Bruce Wayne has decided to be the first to try it. Will the machine backfire or will it work??   
  
Disclaimer: I do not own the Batman movies, cartoon series(s), comic book series(s) nor do I own the characters. The characters that I do own should be apparent, because they were never and never will be featured in the series(s) or movies.  
  
Warnings: Homosexuality will be in this fanfiction, if this offends anyone for any reason, then I suggest you leave now. This fanfiction is purely for entertainment purposes only.   
  
  
I stood there, staring at my boyfriend. I loved him so much. It was hard to believe that now he was twenty-one years old, when only a few days ago he had been turning forty.   
  
Of course, it was hard for me to believe that I was twenty-six. Not too old, right? Well...that's true, it's not. But, that was the problem. Bruce was now in his forties and I was still in my twenties. That meant that one of these times, I might wake up and find Bruce dead.   
  
It happened all the time! You were always hearing about men dying in their sleep at around forty years or older. It would be nice if one day Bruce did die in his sleep. I mean, I don't think it would be nice for him to be dead! I just mean, that it would hopefully be peaceful and painless. Just go to sleep and not wake up again.   
  
I'm no spiritual leader, so I can't tell you if there's life after death, like reincarnation or ghosts roaming around or anything like that. And, I can't tell you if Heaven or Hell is real or which one you would most likely be going to. I was never too religious, I had other things to do and think about. Of course...I always hoped that my family got to go to a place like Heaven. Whether or not I admitted it. It's nice to think...that even though your family isn't where they can see or touch you...and never will be ever again...that they'll be okay...and they'll be waiting for you, for a day when you'll be able to touch and see them again.   
  
But, either way...I don't know if I could survive losing Bruce. I love him so much. I did love my family and I still do. I always will, even though they're gone. But, I love Bruce in a different way than I loved my family. And, I couldn't survive it if I lost him, too. Not so soon. No way. And, if I did survive, most likely I would have gone insane.   
  
But, anyway, I'm sure you're wondering how Bruce got from forty to twenty-one, aren't you?  
  
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Bruce had been worrying about his fortieth birthday for a while. He had been worried about his thirty-seventh, thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth birthday, too.   
  
I tried to tell him that he wasn't old and that even if he were; I'd still love him. It didn't matter to me.   
  
Yes, that's right. Bruce and I were in love. We loved each other more than anything.   
  
It hadn't gotten into the papers, yet, even though it had been awhile since we'd gotten together.   
  
"Bruce, come on...You're not old." I said, trying to reassure him. I hated seeing him upset about anything. This was supposed to be his birthday and he was supposed to be happy. Instead, he was upset.  
  
"I am. I'm forty years old, Dick. Forty. Ten more years and I'll be fifty. And, forty more years and I'll be eighty." Bruce said, sighing as he looked into the mirror. He was checking for gray hairs. I knew he was.  
  
"Forty's not old, Bruce. Forty is still pretty young." I tried to reason. And, it was! So was fifty. The only time I considered it time to worry that you were getting old was when you hit seventy. And, besides, I didn't care how old Bruce got, I would love him forever and nothing would change that. Ever.   
  
"It is old, Dick!" Bruce yelled. He hardly got upset enough to yell, at least not at me, but he did this time. He was sad and he was angry. I knew that he was sad that he thought he was getting old, while I was still young, that he could die at any time, and he was angry at himself for thinking of this nonsense. I knew it. And, he knew it. He just wouldn't admit it.   
  
"Only if you live in Afghanistan!" I cried out, trying to reason that the life expectancy for a man was much older than just forty in America.   
  
"Dick...I'm old. That's all there is to it. Do you realize that sometime I might..." I cut him off before he could finish the sentence, I didn't want him to say it, I didn't want to have to actually face it...  
  
"Kick off while we're in the middle of love making?" So, I made a joke out of it. I had hoped it might make him laugh, that the tone in my voice and expression on my face might make him realize how silly he was being.   
  
Bruce looked at me for a second, as if that was totally unexpected, and then just let his head fall forward and he laughed softly. Apparently, I had achieved my goal. Or so I hoped.   
  
I stepped closer and put my arms around him, moving so that I could do that and kiss his cheek at the same time.   
  
"I hate seeing you upset, Bruce. I love you. I always will. No matter how many more birthdays you go through, no matter how old you get, no matter how many gray hairs start to show up..." I told him, softly, kissing his temple gently.  
  
"I know...I just...I don't want to go to sleep with you one night, and then wake up and find out that I'm not with you, anymore. I don't want to leave you." Bruce said. I knew he'd miss me...and I knew I would miss him. Of course, there was always the chance that Bruce or even I could get killed somehow while we were out fighting crime at night as Batman and Nightwing.   
  
"I know. And, I don't want to lose you. I don't want to admit it...but everyone does have to die, Bruce. When you do...I hope it's peaceful...I don't want you to...I don't even want to think about it..." I said, trying not to actually think about my words. I knew that if I did, at the very least my voice would start to crack. I didn't often cry, but thoughts of Bruce dying might change that.   
  
Bruce turned around and hugged me tightly to him. I guess he knew that about me. I was glad...I knew that I should be trying to make him feel better, but now _ I _ was upset. I knew Bruce hated seeing me upset, just like I hated seeing him upset. But, I couldn't help it. I didn't like thinking about death. It brought back so many bad memories and it made me think of things of the future that I didn't want to think about.   
  
"I love you, too, Dick..." Bruce said, softly to me, holding me to him.   
  
We were both glad that our relationship hadn't made it to TV or the papers or radio. We didn't need that. But, we also knew we couldn't keep it a secret forever. They would find out, somehow.   
  
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One night, we were both in bed, tired, with the sheets covering our nude bodies. We'd just finished making love, but at the moment, we were awake. For some reason, Bruce still couldn't let this turning forty thing go. He was talking about his wishing to go back to twenty-one again.  
  
I wasn't saying anything, but I was listening. I was tracing small designs on his chest, next to where my face was lying. I really didn't want to think about this right now.  
  
He spoke about it for only a little while, before he stopped. I guess he knew that it was making me a little uncomfortable. Don't get me wrong, it would be great if Bruce could do that, I mean...that could mean that he wouldn't die. That THEY wouldn't die. That they could be together forever. This might be a selfish way of thinking...but is it so wrong to want the person you love most in the entire world to live forever? Is it so wrong to want to live forever with that person?   
  
Fifteen minutes later had us both asleep and holding each other.  
  
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Alfred was getting on in years, as well. He was still the butler, of course.   
  
Now, seeing as Bruce was convinced that he was getting old, he was even more convinced that maybe Alfred was a little too old to do his job as butler and such. Alfred hardly ever argued with Bruce, at least not that I saw, but when Bruce suggested that maybe Alfred should take it easy from now on and we'd get someone new to take his job...Alfred got angry. He didn't raise his voice or anything, he was still as dignified as ever, but I could tell he was mad. Just the way he spoke and what he said. Nothing too out of the way, but just enough to get his point across.  
  
After that incident, Bruce decided that he shouldn't bring up the possibility of that, anymore.  
  
Alfred continued with his duties and it was apparent that he most likely wasn't going to stop his work, even if Bruce told him to. That's what I like about Alfred. He's a cool guy. Always has been in my book.   
  
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One morning, Alfred brought the paper into the living room, where Bruce and I were.   
  
At the moment, Bruce was sitting on the couch with my next to him. He had a hand mirror with him and he was checking his hair for gray hairs. I tried to tell him that there was no reason for that, because he didn't have any. And, in truth, he didn't!   
  
"Look at this gray hair!" Bruce cried out in dismay, as Alfred set the paper on the coffee table in front of us.   
  
Alfred had given a little sigh. He was just as eager for this 'I'm getting old' thing, as I was.   
  
I wasn't being insensitive. It's just that Bruce WASN'T old. And, I was tired of seeing him all upset about getting old. I didn't like him to be upset and we both knew it.   
  
"Bruce, you don't have a gray hair. It's black. It's as black as night." I told him, looking at the hair he had indicated as being gray.  
  
"It's gray. It's as gray as it can get, Dick! Can't you see that?? Why am I the only one that can distinguish colors all of a sudden??" Bruce asked, slightly miffed that I had argued the color of the hair with him.   
  
I was trying to be patient, really I was. But, when he was going on about this for nothing, it sort of made it all seem pointless to me. I couldn't help it. I wished that I could have been able to be even more patient with him.   
  
"It's black. Pull it out and send it to as many people as you want and ask them what color it is and they'll say black." I said. I know that he was actually at the age for his hair to begin to change from its natural color to gray or white, but right now none of his hair was gray or white. It was all black. Like it was supposed to be and how it had been for the entire time I knew him.   
  
Bruce sighed and put the mirror down, picking up the paper instead, to read it.   
  
However, it wasn't long before I noticed that Bruce was staring at the front page as if it had grown a head of its own.   
  
"What's the matter?" I asked him, concerned.   
  
"Take a look at this, Dick." Bruce said, in amazement, showing me the front page.   
  
On the front page was a thin woman with glasses. She looked like a very beautiful woman, nice hair and figure, seemingly nice features and she had what looked to be a lab coat on, with a short, but sensible looking dress on. She was standing next to a big machine of sorts.   
  
The machine was tall and seemed to be almost like a dressing room or walk-in closet on it's own.   
  
At first I wondered why Bruce had shown me a picture of a woman, but then I saw the headline: DR. MARY CARMICHAEL CLAIMS TO HAVE INVENTED WORLD'S FIRST MACHINE TO REDUCE AGE.  
  
It was basically a fountain of youth type thing. You got in and she would turn on the machine and set it and it was supposed to make take you from whatever age you were, back to a younger age of your choice. The thing was, it had never been tested.   
  
Immediately, I was worried, because I knew what Bruce had in mind when I read the part about Dr. Carmichael asking for someone to test her machine on.   
  
"Bruce, no..." I said, quietly. I was afraid for him. What if he went in and it reduced him to being nothing more than an embryo or something??   
  
Okay, maybe that wasn't possible, but until she came along, neither was getting younger, instead of older! And, what was the purpose of a machine like this anyway? It didn't really say why she made it. Surely, they weren't going to let just any Tom, Dick or Harry come in and use the machine when they hit forty. That would be nice, but...it was just unlikely. And, did they even consider what side-affects there might be??  
  
"Dick, this is the perfect opportunity! I could go back to being twenty-one again!" Bruce said, smiling at me.   
  
"Or you could go back to being one again..." I said softly.  
  
"Dick, this could be my last chance. I could go back to being twenty-one again." Bruce said, possibly thinking that if he repeated himself, I might see the wisdom in it.  
  
"You'd be younger than me." I said, trying to possibly talk him out of this somehow.  
  
"I could go back to being twenty-six, then." Bruce said.  
  
"Yeah, and fourteen years later we'll be forty. They're not going to let us just hop in that machine every fourteen years to make us twenty-six or every nineteen years to become twenty-one again, Bruce." I tried to reason.  
  
"I know that, Dick. But, at least we'd have a better chance of living our lives together for as long as possible and one of us wouldn't have to suffer for too long if the other died before them." Bruce said.   
  
I knew what that meant. He meant that if he did this, then I wouldn't have to suffer if he died before I did. He didn't mean either one of us. I'd bet that in his mind, he was as good as dead, already, without going into that thing. He knew that it would tear me up to lose him.   
  
"But, what if you..." I started. I was afraid for his safety.   
  
"I'll be fine, Dick. Trust me. This is just something that I have to do." Bruce said, reassuringly.   
  
"Alright..." I said, sighing, reluctantly. I was still afraid for him. I didn't like the thought of him being reduced back to an embryo or something. I didn't want to control him, though. If he felt that this was something that he had to do, then I wasn't going to stop him.   
  
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"Bruce, I'm still not too sure about..." I started, a little too late, because we were already there and at the lab.   
  
"It's alright, Dick. Don't worry. Mr. Wayne will be fine. I'm sure of it!" Dr. Carmichael assured me with a smile.  
  
Her appearance was made more real when you saw her in person, unlike the flat, black and white image of the front page of the paper nearly a month ago.  
  
"She's right, Dick. I'll be fine. You'll see, I'll come out of here and be just fine. Just a different age. Younger." Bruce said, smiling.  
  
"Alright...If this works, maybe I'll try it, too...But, I'm still doubtful it'll work!" I said, trying to get my point across that, at least for right now, I was still against the idea of having my boyfriend go into an untested machine. And, lets not even get into the possible side-affects.  
  
"That's the spirit, Master Dick." Alfred said, in a dignified manner.   
  
"Maybe, you can do the same, Alfred." Bruce said with a mischievous smile. I loved that smile. Made him look so damn sexy!  
  
"I'm sorry, Master Bruce, but I don't think so." Alfred said.   
  
I saw something in Bruce's eyes, though, that I hadn't really expected to see. I should have known it long before I saw it, though. Bruce was afraid, as well.   
  
It didn't come as a surprise to me that he hadn't shown it until now and I doubt that anyone else would have noticed.   
  
At that moment I wished that I could hug and kiss him and assure him that it was alright and that he didn't HAVE to do this...But, I knew that Bruce didn't want me to do that. At least not right now.  
  
Dr. Carmichael opened the door to the machine and Bruce stepped in. The door was shut and locked behind him.   
  
I bit my lip, I didn't like it that he was locked in there until the process was finished...but I guess it was necessary.  
  
She switched switches and pushed buttons and Alfred and I heard the distinct sound that the machine had started.   
  
I bit my lip harder, almost drawing blood, when I felt a hand on my shoulder, as if to comfort.  
  
I turned around and saw Alfred standing behind me, with a reassuring look on his face.  
  
I didn't know how Alfred could possibly be so calm and collected when anything could happen to Bruce in that thing.   
  
"Doctor are you sure this is alright?" I asked nervously. It was taking an awfully long time...and it was taking up so much electricity or whatever that the lights weren't holding out and were threatening to go completely out.   
  
"There is no sure with testing things out, Dick..." Dr. Carmichael said, which only made me worry more.  
  
That had basically just confirmed that something could go terribly wrong.  
  
The process had actually lasted less than fifteen minutes, but to me it lasted fifteen hours. When the machine did stop it's noise and apparently stopped working, because everything went back to normal, I held my breath.  
  
Dr. Carmichael seemed to be holding her breath, as well. She unlocked and opened the door...to reveal a twenty-one year old Bruce Wayne.   
  
I wanted to run up to him and hug him, and kiss him and tell him how glad I was that he was alright and how much I loved him and...Well...I wanted to tell him a lot of things. But, I knew that I couldn't. Not until we got back to the mansion. Not until we were out of sight of anyone that wasn't Bruce, Alfred or me.   
  
Bruce smiled to the others and to me. I thought it was a sexy smile. Not just because he was younger, though he did look great. To me, he looked just as good as he did when he was forty. I love him and I will always think of him as the most gorgeous man in the world. And, I'll think of him as many other wonderful things, as well.   
  
"You're turn, Dick. It worked." Bruce said, smiling to me.   
  
"Uhm...right..." I said, nervously.  
  
"Don't be afraid, Master Dick. I'm sure it'll turn out just as wonderfully as Master Bruce's turn did." Alfred said, trying to help.  
  
"Uhm...Yeah..." I said, trying to mask my nervousness. Didn't do a very hot job, did I?  
  
"Are you afraid, Dick?" Bruce asked me, teasing.  
  
"Of course, not!" I said, trying to not embarrass myself in front of everyone, even though I knew it was just teasing.  
  
"Then, come on, Dick. Get in." Dr. Carmichael said with a smile, happy that her machine had worked.   
  
"Alright, fine." I said, going over and getting inside the thing.   
  
Dr. Carmichael smiled and shut the door, locking it...I can't tell you how nervous I got when I heard the loud sound that signified the door being locked from the outside.  
  
"Oh, I forgot to find out what age he wanted to be reduced to..." Dr. Carmichael said, stopping.   
  
"Twenty-two." Bruce said, smiling.  
  
"Are you sure?" She asked him.  
  
"I'm sure. We talked about the possibility before we even got here." He answered.  
  
"Alright." She said, smiling.  
  
After that little bit of almost confusion there, she got that machine going...It kinda felt weird to me, because I could actually feel myself getting younger. I guess, that was because of the fast pace it was happening and the fact that it wasn't supposed to happen.   
  
Being inside of it, you could tell that it really didn't take longer than fifteen minutes to do this.  
  
To me, it was actually almost like no time.   
  
Soon, she was unlocking and opening that door. I stepped out, twenty-two years old again.   
  
"..........." Was just about the only thing that was gonna be heard from me!  
  
"Well?" Everyone said at the same time, which resulted in a few covered up chuckles.  
  
"It's....uh....wow!" I said. Real intelligent, huh?  
  
Bruce chuckled and I gave a blush when I saw Dr. Carmichael giggle and Alfred fight a smile.  
  
I hate blushing. It's so...not manly....Okay...that doesn't even make sense.  
  
Moving on!!!  
  
"I do believe, I should have a go at it. I wouldn't mind being thirty, again." Alfred said. He was the last one I had thought would actually volunteer to do this. I thought he'd have to be bothered until he did it or just left alone to continue with his age as it was. But, then, he has done weirder things, before.  
  
After Alfred went in and came back out, I grinned at him. I couldn't help it. He looked so much better! He always handled age well, but he did look great like this. Not that I was admiring his body in any sort of sexual way. Just observing.  
  
"You look great, Alfred." Bruce observed. Yes, I'm sure it was an observatory remark.   
  
Stop looking at me that way!!  
  
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Once we got back to the mansion, I threw my arms around Bruce and hugged and kissed him. I hated not being able to do it when I wanted to, and so it was done much more than it normally would have if I had been allowed to. I had to wait until were back here. That wasn't a bad thing, but it was hard!  
  
Of course, we spent a lot of our time, that we weren't supposed to be seen in public or out fighting crime as Batman and Nightwing, cuddling, hugging and kissing, just being with each other or making love. No, we didn't make love almost twenty-four hours a day. We're not machines, for God's sake!  
  
So, you can pretty much guess what we were doing for the rest of the night...  
  
Not that you perverts!!!  
  
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And, so I stand here, watching my boyfriend, now twenty-one, sleep. I was just getting a drink of water, and now that I'm back here, I just can't help but stare at him for a while. He's just so amazing. In every possible aspect.   
  
I love Bruce with all my heart and soul and I am happy that we're so close in age now, so I don't have to worry about him so much. I'm still going to worry about him a lot, but I don't have to worry about him dying in his sleep, now. I like not having to worry about that.   
  
I slip into bed with him again, cuddle up softly, so I won't wake him, and kiss his cheek softly, then relax and soon I'm falling asleep again, in my soul mate's arms.  
  
  
  
  
  
The End  
  
Author's notes: Yeah, I know. Really weird...Sorry. ^^;; 


End file.
